Louis C. Midgley (born March 12, 1931) is a

Mormon apologist Apologetics (from Greek ) is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and recommended their faith ...

and retired professor of political science at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

. Since his retirement he has been closely involved with the

Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) was an informal collaboration of academics devoted to Latter-day Saint historical scholarship. The organization was established in 1979 as a non-profit organization by John. W. We ...

, writing many book reviews, articles, and book chapters defending

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church) from perceived critics.

Education and career

Midgley studied at the University of Utah for his bachelor's and master's degrees. He took an extended leave to serve as a missionary for the LDS Church in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

1950–1952. On his mission, he first encountered sectarian anti-Mormon arguments. He earned a PhD in political science from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

. His dissertation focused on

Paul Tillich Paul Johannes Tillich (; ; August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German and American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran theologian who was one of the most influential theologians of the twenti ...

. Midgley taught political science, specifically, the history of political and legal philosophy, at

from 1960 until his retirement in 1996.

Apologetics

In the 1980s, Midgley, along with David Bohn and Neal Kramer, criticized practitioners of New Mormon History. Midgley called the New Mormon Histories an "act of treason" against the LDS faith since they did not take a stance on the LDS Church's truth claims. Midgley wrote that since objectivity in writing history is impossible, that Mormon historians ought to "defend" the faith. Midgley's argument was a familiar one, but his use of

antipositivist In social science, antipositivism (also interpretivism, negativism or antinaturalism) is a theoretical stance which proposes that the social realm cannot be studied with the methods of investigation utilized within the natural sciences, and th ...

rhetoric was unfamiliar to Mormon historians. Thomas G. Alexander responded, stating that positivism is a miscategorization, because New Mormon Historians usually accepted spiritual experiences like Joseph Smith's visions, rather than attributing them to mental illness or fabrication as a positivist might. Later, in his

Dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

article on the subject, John-Charles Duffy described Midgley's and Bohn's logic as antimodernist rather than

postmodernist Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...

. Midgley often responded to arguments with a style one blogger referred to as "feisty." David Bohn wrote an essay for ''Sunstone'' about Mormon historiography, which Thomas Alexander critiqued at length. Informed by this critique, Bohn rewrote portions of the essay, according to Alexander. Bohn's essay, "No Higher Ground," was published in the May–June 1983 issue of ''Sunstone''. Scott C. Dunn, an editor at ''Sunstone'', stated that "a number of historians had gone to great lengths to discourage the publication of this manuscript ..they sought to prevent distribution of ideas contrary to their own." Midgley described the editorial interventions as censorship, which Alexander described as "intentional misrepresentation and obtuseness." Alexander also accused Midgley of intentionally "misrepresenting the views of others." Midgley was a frequent defender of

Hugh Nibley Hugh Winder Nibley (March 27, 1910 – February 24, 2005) was an American scholar and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) who was a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) for nearly 50 years. He was a prolif ...

and published a bibliography of Nibley's complete works. He contributed the article on theology to the

Encyclopedia of Mormonism The ''Encyclopedia of Mormonism'' is a semi-official English-language encyclopedia for topics relevant to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church, see also "Mormon"). The encyclopedia's five volumes have been digitized and ar ...

. In 2005-2006 Midgley served as editor of the ''FARMS Review''. Other topics Midgley has studied included the abandonment of a belief in the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, first published in 1830 by Joseph Smith as ''The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi''. The book is one of ...

as an ancient document by members of the

Community of Christ Community of Christ, known legally and from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), is an American-based international church, and is the second-largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement ...

. Midgley has criticized both the writings of Grant H. Palmer and his representations of his career."Prying into Palmer" in ''FARMS Review'' Vol. 15, Issue 2
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Personal life and church service

Following his retirement Midgley and his wife Ireta served as

Church Educational System The Church Educational System (CES) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) consists of several institutions that provide religious and secular education for both Latter-day Saint and non–Latter-day Saint elementary, sec ...

missionaries in

1999–2000.

Notes

References

Louis C. Midgley
at the Mormon Literature and Creative Arts Database
Louis C. Midgley papers
MSS 2806, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Midgley, Louis C. Latter Day Saints from Utah American Mormon missionaries in New Zealand Brigham Young University faculty Brown University alumni Church Educational System instructors Intellectual historians Living people Mormon apologists Maxwell Institute people University of Utah alumni Latter Day Saints from Rhode Island 1931 births